Ask Science Dude

Podcast Episode 29 : ASD Goes Viral!

Angry Hippie — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:54:28 +0000

In this brand new episode Science Dude emerges from the winter hibernation and sits down for an interview with Plymouth Marine Laboratory’s Dr. Mike Allen whose research focuses mainly on understanding the role of viruses in the ocean, to discuss just that, the viral soup that is the Earth’s oceans. With a further look at viruses, the show dives into the deep blue sea to examine coccolithophores and coccolithoviruses, or more specifically Emiliana huxleyi algae and the virus that attacks them in their diploid state; the very nature of viruses and how they attack and destroy cells through infecting and replicating until the infected cell bursts; and overall the exponential number of viruses idly waiting in the ocean water for a host to infect. Equal parts scary and fun, this viral episode also looks a little more at tattoos via questions on the blog from the last episode before the interview. As always, we really hope that you enjoy the show as much as we did putting it together.

**Disclaimer** Rob’s mic malfunctioned and so his contributions to the pre and post interview portions is somewhat grainy and hard to hear as it was picked up by the crap built-in mic of his HP laptop. Sorry for the poor quality. Much of Rob’s portion, as unnecessary as it is was cut for listener benefit.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Linky Links from Sinead

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Podcast Episode 28 : Tattoos

Angry Hippie — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:04:48 +0000

In this special episode, Sinead sits down for an interview with Carl Zimmer, an author and lecturer at Yale University, where he teaches writing about science and the environment, to discuss the topic of his latest book Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed. The Angry Hippie joins the Dude before the interview and then pops back up after to help Sinead close the program and announce the specifics of the giveaway (which we will get to in a moment). Before the interview, Sinead covers the science behind exactly how tattoos work with a bit of an in depth look at our skin. As always, we really hope that you enjoy the show as much as we did putting it together.

Below are the details on the contest and a short gallery of nerdy ink from Science Dude and friends!

Subscribe to the Podcast

The Giveaway

Because of the awesomeness of Sinead, the podcast has a copy of Mr. Zimmer’s new book, Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed to give away to one lucky listener of the show (winners limited to locations where Amazon ships). And there are two ways to enter:

#1 – Leave us a comment telling us if you were to get a nerdy tattoo (in regards to whatever field you work in), what would it be and why?
#2 – Show us your nerdy ink (be it temporary or permanent) via email or with a link in the comment section below!

All entries by email and comment must be in by 11:59pm on December 31st! So get those wheels a turning or cameras loaded and get entered to win the copy of Carl Zimmer’s book that was discussed on this episode of the podcast. Winner will be chosen randomly.

Linky Links from Sinead

The books of Carl Zimmer

Gallery of Nerdy Ink

Gytis Dudas is a first year PhD student at the University of Edinburgh working on the interactions between co-circulating RNA viruses. He says that at the moment it means looking at what happens to influenza viruses when new ones show up. His tattoo is of the first evolutionary tree drawn by Darwin – evolutionary trees show relationships between lineages through time.

Tom Little is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He does research is on host-parasite coevolution, and combines the study of immune responses, the genomic regions and genes that underlie susceptibility and, ultimately, evolutionary dynamics in the field. As far as we know, his work has nothing to do with cephalopods in general, or octopi specifically, but Science Dude does find this tattoo pretty awesome.

The Hofmann group is based at the University of California in Santa Barbara, but goes to the Antarctic regularly. Science groups doing research in Antarctica are assigned ‘event numbers’ as a shorthand to identify personnel, equipment and activities associated with the group. ‘B’ identifies the project as Biology, ‘M’ identifies the location at McMurdo Station, and 134 is a number that Gretchen chose herself. We have put our (temporary) tattoo on carpenters, dishwashing assistants, other scientists, and a National Science Foundation representative–it’s been our way of giving our love to the citizens of McMurdo.

Sinead Collins (a.k.a. Science Dude) is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She does experimental evolution with microbes, trying to figure out how genetic adaptation works when the ecology and genetics get complicated, and then applies this to how photosynthetic microbes might evolve in response to global change. Despite the fact that she works on things that are only one cell big, Sinead is fascinated by flight, perhaps because she spends so much time flying. Her forearms show the four times flight has evolved: insects, pterosaurs, birds and mammals. All of the animals are actually little robots, incorporating the fifth time flight has shown up: when humans managed to build flying machines.

Podcast Episode 27 : Digestion

Angry Hippie — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:10:03 +0000

In this special episode, Sinead sits down for an interview with a colleague and friend, Zarin Machanda, a lecturer at Harvard, to discuss a range of topics dealing mostly with the evolution of digestion habits of humans and her research studying chimpanzees in Uganda (in a totally vegan-like observational way not a cruel one). Sinead also goes over the digestion process with Rob to cover exactly how our bodies break down food and gain nutrients via this highly specialized system at work. After the interview, the Dude and the Hippie check back in for a discussion of the not so vegan elements of what people evolved eating and how those limitations are not still at play today.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Linky Links from Sinead

Animated Intestines!

Podcast Episode 26: Philopatry

Angry Hippie — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:16:52 +0000

In this special episode, Sinead sits down with a colleague and friend, Dr. Christophe Eizaguirre from the IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany to discuss the specifics of philopatry in certain species of animals. They cover some of the science that keeps Christophe busy aside from his studies on philopatry, and share many a laugh along the way. The Angry Hippie pops in at the beginning of the show to talk with Science Dude about the interview and some other related and off topic subjects before rolling out the interview. You know how they are when they get together. Enjoy. *Disclaimer* The show does have a discussion of a study being done tracking sea turtles and taking DNA samples from them, along with a sad, somewhat bothersome story of crabs versus turtles during the interview.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Linky Links from Sinead

CDC Emergency Preparedness (even for Zombie outbreaks)

Podcast Episode 25 : Compassion

Angry Hippie — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 06:52:40 +0000

In this episode, Sinead and the Angry Hippie take an extra ranty ride through the humanely disconnected scientific search for the cause of compassion. Charged with reason on their side, and frustration in their tones, this dynamic vegan duo examine some of the processes, both cruel and more humane, that the scientific community are currently using in their quest to find and understand the source of empathy in the brain. With momentum built up from our initial topic, we veer down a side path discussing the inherent problems with current scientific publishing methodologies as well. As always, we hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it together.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Podcast Episode 24 : The E. coli Show

Angry Hippie — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:48:10 +0000

In this episode, Sinead and the Angry Hippie take on E. coli…from a controlled and safe environ of course. From the various types of this useful and at times deadly bacteria, to what just what a bacteria is and how we classify them, this fun and at times icky discussion takes many an informative twist and turn. Also looking at everything you ever wanted to know about Shigo toxins but were afraid to ask, and a bit of a refresher course on the kidney’s and how they function, this episode just about has all the infectious goodness that we could possibly pack into it! As always, we hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it together.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Podcast Episode 23 : When Scientists Do Experiments on Themselves

Angry Hippie — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:17:57 +0000

In this episode, Sinead and the Angry Hippie discuss a famous essay by JBS Haldane, who was a really important mathematician and biologist and who did many – some would say too many – experiments on himself. The essay, ‘On being one’s own rabbit’ takes us and our listeners on a journey of discovery as we explore Haldane and others who have done experiments on themselves through the ages. Our discussion winds its way from Santorio Santorio, the man who suggested that scientists should do experiments to test their hypotheses, down to the Bellybutton Biodiversity Project and the bacteria that cover our bodies (or more specifically, those that inhabit our bellybuttons)! As always, we hope that you enjoy this creative and informative look at science as much as we did putting it together.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Linky linkys from Sinead

Santorio Santorio the dude who suggested that experiments are a good idea.

The bellybutton biodiversity project website!

Podcast Episode 22 : Radioactivity

Angry Hippie — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:42:28 +0000

In this episode, Sinead and the Angry Hippie take a look at radioactivity. With the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, Science Dude has been getting some questions related to this event and what exactly the data being discussed means. So Sinead is here with some context on the doses and measurements being bandied about, and some interesting history on the atom and radioactivity. As always, we hope that you enjoy this creative and informative look at science as much as we did putting it together.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Linky linkys from Sinead

Everything you ever wanted to know about radioactivity

Really useful radiation dose chart. Plus, just a really awesome way to convey information.

A more detailed chart

Some thoughts on using nuclear energy

Radiation for Health!

Podcast Episode: International Women’s Day Special

Angry Hippie — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:43:38 +0000

In this episode, Sinead and the Angry Hippie take an entire episode to honor women in science for International Women’s Day. Rather than rehashing the sexism in science rants that we have covered in the past, though we do touch on them here and there, we look at the methods of old, compared to those of today to see not only how women’s roles in science have come more to the foreground, but also how the methodologies have changed as well. With a handful of examples, and a couple of digressions, the special episode has come together, and as always, we hope that you enjoy this creative and informative look at science as much as we did putting it together.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Podcast Episode 21: Ocean Acidification

Angry Hippie — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:35:01 +0000

In this episode, Sinead and the Angry Hippie cover a little feedback from the last episode before we move on to discuss Sinead’s recent travels to Japan for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control and the ways that the science is gathered and compiled at these types of conferences for the reports that will follow. We also discuss a primary concern of the conference this year, ocean acidification. As always, we hope that you enjoy this creative and informative look at science as much as we did putting it together.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Linky linkys from Sinead

EPOCA blog

IPCC’s site